


4419

by Layni1771



Series: Stray Kids AUs [15]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bang Chan & Lee Felix are Siblings, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Grief/Mourning, I'm Bad At Tagging, Let's Love Lee Felix, Literature, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Platonic Soulmates, Polyamory, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Time Skips, also, it plays a surprising element in this fic, minho seungmin and jeongin don't show up, ship woolix they are strong, sorry - Freeform, this soulmate au makes soulmates kinda sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 00:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15852450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Layni1771/pseuds/Layni1771
Summary: "Your souls are just trying to meet again," Ms. Jules says, "When they do, they missed each other so much that they want to stay together forever.""Then what happens, Ms. Jules?" The students ask."Then you fall asleep for a very long time," Ms. Jules answers.-Soulmates Are Not Scary! A Children's Book by Devon MatthewsLee Felix is seven when his best friend dies, nineteen when his boyfriend meets his soulmate, twenty when he meets his own, and still twenty when the soulmate system begins its work.





	4419

**Author's Note:**

> I have completely lost track of my own updating schedule, I need to go back to using my daily planner.  
> Anyway! For about eight years I've been trying to write a soulmate AU, and every single time I tried I could never complete it. Until, finally, in July I completed this. But I'm me and can't even let soulmates be something just cute and happy. Warning for both minor and major character deaths.  
> As always, not proofread so please excuse any errors! Hope you enjoy~  
> Note: Russian translation in progress.

part one.

_"Your souls are just trying to meet again," Ms. Jules says, "When they do, they missed each other so much that they want to stay together forever."_

_"Then what happens, Ms. Jules?" The students ask._

_"Then you fall asleep for a very long time," Ms. Jules answers._

_-Soulmates Are Not Scary! A Children's Book by Devon Matthews_

Felix is seven when his best friend Leo dies.

Before Leo, Felix had never heard of the word soulmate. It was almost a taboo subject, something really only brought up when _it_ happened. At some point, everyone became aware of them because either your family spoke to you about it as a child, you or someone you knew met their soulmate, or you learned from word-of-mouth. Felix had to learn through Leo, because one Monday when he walked into school, there was no Leo laughing by the swingset with Felix's promised chocolate bar. Instead, he walked into school to see his teacher nervously pacing in front of the class line, talking with every parent that walked through the gates with their child (Felix's parents hadn't. They never did). Miss Layla was wringing her hands, her high-pitched voice trying to speak in low tones. Felix tried to move past the class line and to the play area, but his second teacher, Miss Norah grasped him gently by the arm and led him to his place in line.

"Stay here, okay Felix?" She smiled at him and patted his cheek, but he pouted.

"Miss Norah, I wanna go play! Why can't our class go play? Did Leo get us in trouble again, is that why he isn't here? I'm sorry for asking him to bring me chocolate, Miss Norah, please let us go play!" Felix pleaded, clasping his small hands together in front of him. However, his teacher gave him that smile that made something unhappy tingle in his tummy and shook her head, patting his cheek again.

"Just stay here, Felix, we have to go inside the classroom early today," And like that, the conversation was over. Felix pouted, stamping his feet a little on the blacktop as he looked to his friend Cindy. She was playing with the zippers on her Hello Kitty backpack and he leaned closer to her, whispering- Though it was much too loud to be a whisper.

"Did Leo get us in trouble?" He asked, but Cindy shook her head. Her blonde curls bounced around her face.

"No, he didn't come to school yet. Maybe his tummy felt yucky?" She shrugged, "I didn't come to school when my tummy felt yucky."

"But my chocolate..." Felix crossed his arms and laid them on his knees, rocking back and forth in boredom. Cindy was his friend too, but he liked Leo a lot better. Leo shared his yummy chocolate and took turns on the swings like you were supposed to, unlike Rocky who pushed the other kids to get to the front of the line. He was funny and he smelled like cinnamon, which Felix liked a lot because it reminded him of his granny's house. She always was baking with cinnamon. So he was sad as he stared at the gate, pouting as he waited for his best friend. When you were in line, you weren't allowed to play with anything from your backpack unless you were reading a book, and Felix didn't have any books to bring from home. He wasn't even allowed to check out library books after what happened to his last one, so he was bored and lonely and _sad_. He pouted and picked at his sleeves.

 _Finally_ , Miss Layla stood in front of the class line, and clapped her hands together. Miss Norah stood just behind her, and Felix perked to attention. At least if they went inside of the classroom, he'd have something to do.

"Come along, class, we have something very important we have to talk about today," There was something weird about her voice, he noticed, the same sort of weird when his mom was getting yelled at and she tried to make his dad stop. He didn't like it and rubbed his arms, looking at the shoes of the kid in front of him as they were led inside, "Backpacks against the wall and to your carpet squares."

Immediately, Felix hung his sun-patterned backpack on the hook and took Cindy's hand, leading her to the purple carpet squares that she, Leo, and he usually took. He frowned, because it felt empty without Leo but it would do. The teachers were whispering all secret-like near Miss Layla's desk and he sighed dramatically, flopping into Cindy's lap. Her pink lips pulled into a smile and she giggled, running her fingers through his hair before pushing lightly at his shoulders. He made himself heavier, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth. Cindy covered her own, tiny fingers pressing white marks into her face. Felix struggled not to smile as she pushed harder and harder. Finally, she whispered harshly, still smiling, "Felix, _up_!"

"I can't move, I'm _dead_ ," He retorted, before sticking his tongue back out of his mouth again. He even laid an arm across his forehead.

" _Felix_ ," Miss Layla called, "Up and hands to yourself."

His heart jumped at his name being called, and Felix sat straight, bottom lip puffing out in another pout. Cindy gave him another smile and looked at the front of the classroom where their teachers stood. He was annoyed at them, but Miss Norah was holding a story book and he really liked story books. It had a white cover with rainbow stripes and a picture of a boy and a girl on the cover. They were holding hands with their hearts glowing inside of their chests. He tilted his head and squinted as he tried to read the title. Actually, Felix's eyesight wasn't very good and most of the time he couldn't read the words on the books the teachers read to him but they didn't need to know that. He was a good listener!

"Class, this is very hard to say, and we have to learn a very important lesson from this, okay? I know you may be sad, but Miss Norah and I will read this book to you so you can understand better, okay?" Miss Layla spoke slowly, her green eyes meeting directly with Felix's brown ones. He swallowed, "Have any of you heard of the word soulmates?"

There was silence, until one boy raised his hand in the back.

"My mom once said that the reason my brother doesn't come home anymore is 'cause he met his soulmate," He said shyly. She nodded in response.

"Every person in this world has a soul, but they share that soul with another person," Miss Norah said. Her voice was shaky, "The person you share your soul with is called your soulmate. Some people have even more than one soulmate. Because your souls are part of a whole, they want to join together. So every day, your soul searches for its other piece, or pieces. When you meet your soulmate, your souls want to join together. So every time you meet with your soulmate, your souls get closer and closer until they become one."

"Why are souls in pieces?" Cindy called out, raising her hand. Felix scratched at his wrist.

"No one knows, sweetheart, we just know what they are," Their secondary teacher gave them a gentle smile. His shoulders hurt from how straight he was sitting, "And that's what happened to Leo. He met his soulmate. But that means we can't see Leo anymore."

"Why not? All that happened was that he met that stupid soulmate!" Felix protested loudly, balling his fists as he leaned forward.

"You see, honey, Leo's soulmate was that baby sister he was so excited about. Because they were so close together, and so young, their souls joined together very fast," Miss Layla explained soothingly.

"What does that even mean?" He asked, frustrated.

"When their souls join together, the soulmates leave this life. That means that Leo died, honey."

Suddenly, Felix's playing around with Cindy a few minutes earlier wasn't so fun anymore.

 

part two.

 _Soulmates are a very interesting phenomena. We do not know the process of how souls are split, nor the reasons why. We only know that it is true. Soulmates are commonly found in pairs, but sometimes the soul has been split into three pieces. The only indication- Other than the_ feeling _, which is described as a feeling of fullness and well-restedness- that you have met your soulmate is that you and those around you can see a colored mark glow briefly on your body. It is always somewhere easily visible, and the glow fades after a few moments. However, the colored mark will remain, though very light, until the souls permanently join._

_-What We Know of Soulmates by Reiko Minami_

Felix is nineteen when his boyfriend meets his soulmate.

"Woojin hyung, come _on_!" Felix shouted over his shoulder, grinning at the older's over-exaggerated wave of hands. The sun was warm on his tanned skin. The third anniversary of his arrival in South Korea was obviously one to celebrate, even if he still was terrible in the language. He spoke it better than he understood it, but his boyfriend never minded. That was just one of the many things that made Kim Woojin something like an angel, and his heart skipped a beat or two when he caught sight of the precious, adoring smile directed his way. He swallowed past the love that was trying to burst out from his throat- _How did it get there from my heart?_ \- and instead pouted, " _Hyung_ , it's a sale on _ice cream_! You can't make me miss that. I live for this."

"You live for it every Tuesday, 'Lix," Woojin reasoned, throwing his arm around his shoulder. He pulled Felix close, and the younger whined at the feel of the elder's scratchy stubble against his cheek. He only was given a warm laugh in return, and Felix melted into the blond's warm touch, sighing happily. The shining sun was so _pleasant_ , and his eyes jumped in to take all of the scenery. There was nothing special, of course- Children, playing happily in the streets, a stray ginger cat stretching lazily in the mouth of an alley, a businessman walking hurriedly as he spoke into the phone in a deep, serious tone. The homes the couple passed by were the same you would find all over Seoul, with green trees in an urban conservation effort stuck in small spaces. It was so normal by now, something Felix had come to know as home.

After all, this had become his home mere months after his mother met her soulmate and passed away. In the time after that, Felix got in contact with his half-brother Chris and ended up where he was. Over time...Well, he was living life happily.

"What's going on in that bright head of yours, Felix?" Woojin asked, running his fingers through his red-brown hair. The younger shied away from the touch but shrugged, the corners of his lips tugging down.

"How sweaty your big hands are. Let go, my clothes are all wet now," He complained, tugging at his shirt for emphasis. Woojin snorted, rolling his eyes, but he complied. There was silence for a few moments before, "...I lied, gimme your hand back."

The older huffed a laugh through his nose yet immediately, Felix felt his small hand be engulfed by his boyfriend's larger one. He shut his eyes, leaning into Woojin's shoulder. The sounds of a spring day resounded in his ears as he took a deep breath, taking in the scent of his boyfriend's skin. There simply was no way to describe it as he blindly trusted the blond to lead him in the right direction. Woojin had never failed him before.

Felix nearly tumbled to the ground when Woojin stopped suddenly, saved only by the elder's tight grip. His eyes sprang open as he gasped, and he peered up in concern at the elder. However, his gaze was trained on someone else, across from them- Then, Felix spotted the creamy orange stripe across the hand that was holding his. It reminded him, sickeningly so, of the empty blue ring that had appeared on his mother's wrist, and nausea rolled in his stomach as his eyes rested on a girl with short caramel hair and a strange expression on her face. There was a creamy orange stripe across her bare bicep, and suddenly, it was as though his world had begun to fall apart. His heart, instead of skipping beats, was hitting against his chest painfully, and he stumbled back, quick breaths tumbling from his parted lips. The girl's expression softened at the sight of his panic, and she stepped forward, deep brown eyes gentle in a way that was startlingly familiar.

"Lix," Woojin spoke in a whisper, tightening his grip. His voice was weak, too weak to belong to the strong person he knew as Kim Woojin, "Please don't leave."

 _I'm scared_ and _I need you_ were left unsaid, but Felix heard them and he didn't move any further, even when this stranger girl, _Woojin's soulmate_ , took his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Please don't be afraid of me," Her voice was melodic, and she looked at Woojin curiously, "It's so nice to finally meet you."

Kim Chaewon became a new element in Lee Felix's life.

She held no romantic interest in Woojin at all, unlike some soulmates who were able to find that sort of sense in the soulmate system. Chaewon simply wanted to be Woojin's _friend_ , until their time came. That being said, she was also about to go abroad to study fashion, and that supposedly would extend their lifespans by a few months at least. Soulmates were no exact science, but all Felix needed to know was that he was not going to lose his boyfriend as quickly as he had his mother. By extension, Chaewon had become his friend as well, and he didn't...He didn't dislike that at all. She was different from Woojin, very much so, but held that same comforting aura and he couldn't resist it. Rather than being someone he hated, for being the impending end to his most important person's life, Felix came to treasure her.

But that wasn't so easy to accept.

"She's going to be why Woojin hyung won't, won't-" Felix's voice broke off and he buried his face into Chris's shoulder. His brother sighed, wrapping his arm around Felix tighter.

"That's not true," He whispered in his ear, before speaking in a firmer tone, "It's the system. The system that's taking Woojin away, not Chaewon."

He wanted to argue, to scream about how unfair it was and pour out the way that his heart was being torn in all directions, but at the same time, Felix _understood_ that. The same way he understood that Leo had to die, the same way he understood that his mom had to die. For as long as humans could remember, that was how life just _worked_. Some were lucky or unlucky enough to meet their soulmate. So many people were able to live their lives out until they died of old age, never once meeting that other half or third. But others did meet the rest of their soul- Some young, like Leo and his baby sister, some older like his mom and that girl from the grocery store, and others even in their elderly years. Woojin and Chaewon just happened to meet when they did. Their souls found each other.

Perhaps there was peace to make in that.

"How does it feel? To have met your soulmate?" Felix asked one late night when he found himself tangled in Woojin's arms.

"It's like an emptiness that I didn't even know was reaching has relaxed now," Woojin replied easily, kissing just behind Felix's ear. He shivered, "But it's nothing close to how completed I feel when I'm with you."

 

part three.

_The first to go are the parent-child soulmates. Those are some unlucky bastards. Assuming the mother is the soulmate or the father is and he's stuck around, that's nine months already spent together, just waiting for the official meeting. Those soulmates last a day or two at most. That's one of the hardest for families to accept, but what's worse can be the sibling soulmates. The kids get a week tops before it all ends. The parents lose two kids at once, the grieving process is really fucking hard then. The younger they are, the faster it goes. That's why the third kind of soulmates, the ones that aren't related, tend to last the longest. Because they normally meet later in life, due to everyday circumstances._

_It's easier to avoid each other then, because they're normally adults by then, or have adults that want them to live. A lot of them have things they want to do, people they want to see, so they avoid their soulmates and live longer. That shit doesn't work for everyone though, since some souls have a stronger connection than others due to this lovely little thing called proximity. If the poor suckers were living near to each other for a long time without ever actually meeting, things'll end within just a few months._

_What's more interesting are the suckers who find romance in it. I guess it might be a way to cope, or maybe they really do find something in that other person or people. They stay together and live out their last few months together like all those movies you see._

_The types of people out there really are shocking._

_-Blunt Opinions on Soulmates by Baptiste Chevalier_

Felix is twenty when he meets his soulmate.

It was an unseasonably warm winter day as he noisily chomped on a handful of sour gummy worms- Clearly the best kind in existence. So _maybe_ he had gone out to buy Woojin more orange juice and had completely gotten distracted by the candy aisle, and _it was possible_ he had left without the item he went to the grocery store for, and _just hecking perhaps_ Felix had decided that instead of going back for the orange juice, he was going to buy Woojin flowers instead because he was too far away when he realized his mistake. It was whatever, and Felix was sure his longtime boyfriend was going to see right through him but appreciate the flowers nonetheless. A soft smile twitched at his lips as he thought of them going in the windowsill of their bedroom, just for the two of them to see.

He entered the florist without a second thought.

The first thing to catch his eye were the lilies. Felix was always fond of them, and the white ones tugged at his heart. Immediately, he changed his straight path and swerved, fingertips gently skimming the large, fuzzy petals. There were a number of bouquets with them, and Felix carefully inspected each one. He wasn't one to care for flower meanings, just the way they looked and felt to him, so when he spotted the bunch with gardenias, tulips, roses, and Queen Anne's lace, he was sold. Felix cautiously picked it out of its stand, sliding it into a sleeve before holding it to his nose, inhaling deeply.

The scent was beautiful, and he tilted his head.

"Hyung will definitely forgive me for the orange juice over these," He spoke lightly- Though it was a rather poor attempt at convincing himself that buying flowers was a peace offering instead of a cute, romantic gesture. With a skip in his step, he turned to the counter, making eye contact with the florist at the counter.

He stopped short, eyes widening as he met something... _Familiar_. He wasn't sure just how to describe it, it was almost like... _Coming home_. He swallowed thickly, because his body was suddenly refreshed, like Felix had just woken up after the best night's sleep. With a hesitance that made him sick to his stomach, Felix blinked, looking at the bare skin of his chest. The day had been warm enough to wear a low-cut shirt- Woojin had joked that global warming had truly begun to make itself known. There was a glowing royal purple nonagon sitting there, innocently, like it had always been there. In reality, Felix knew it had, just waiting to finally reveal itself. His gaze flickered back up to the boy at the counter, who was still staring at his own palm almost in wonder.

Felix wanted to be scared, but Woojin had taught him that soulmates were nothing to be scared of, and so he worked past the knots in his stomach even as his arms trembled. Felix placed the bouquet on the counter, trying to smile at the stranger who felt like _home_. His face was angular but prettily so, and his eyes were simply magnetic.

"Hi, I'm Felix."

Seo Changbin was an enigma and a half.

"Hyung, let me kiss you," Felix whined, poking Changbin's shoulder for the umpteenth time.

"Go kiss Woojin or something," Was the muttered reply he received as the older continued to work on the pink and purple bouquet bunched carefully in his hands. He pouted, swinging his legs and knocking the heels of his sneakers loudly against the counter. It didn't distract his soulmate in the slightest, and Felix groaned in boredom, leaning against his palms.

"I want to kiss _this_ boyfriend, though," Changbin snorted, swatting his small hand away when it yet again approached for another poke.

"I'm working, Felix."

"Yes but Woojin hyung isn't even _here_. Don't think I won't tell him you didn't even call him hyung," He threatened playfully, peering at the beautiful flowers in his boyfriend's hands. If you asked him, he wouldn't even be sure how they ended up in the circumstances they did. Somewhere between meeting Changbin and finally introducing him to Woojin, something he had put off for much too long out of nervousness, he had fallen in love all over again. Woojin had thought it was about the cutest thing ever to see the two of them together- Felix had received a large number of texts containing the phrase "uwu" multiple times in Woojin's explanation of why he thought Felix should ask Changbin out, and so it had...Happened. It was comfortable, warm, dating the two of them. He wasn't exactly sure where Woojin and Changbin stood in each other's lives, but he knew that it was for them to sort out between themselves and that it was best for him to not intervene unless something really felt _off_.

The two had the right to take time to navigate their own relationship, especially given the limited time all of them had- Particularly Woojin.

Felix shook his head and slid a lone, stray petal across the cold surface, and watched as the purple color smeared against the white. Changbin laughed- It was short, but not angry, "You're making a mess, baby."

"Maybe because hyung isn't paying attention to me," He defended, but left the remnants of the petal alone.

His following sigh was swallowed by a surprise kiss, sweetened with vanilla lip balm.

 

part four.

_three breaks so easily_

_once together, they fall apart_

_one is left above the others, breezily_

_that really is a bleeding heart_

_-To Be A Soulmate Of Three by Sofía H._

Felix is still twenty when his boyfriend Woojin dies.

As soulmate deaths often were, it was sudden, unexpected. No one thought much of it when, in Chaewon's last video call to South Korea, she was suffering from an apparent cold or virus, much like Woojin was. Felix didn't learn until later that soulmates that tried to avoid each other physically were prone to showing signs similar to illness, just before dying. It was assumed to be due to the fact that the souls were connecting somewhere outside of their bodies, and the farther the space between, the more taxing it was on the physical body. Since there were whole countries and even oceans between them, it took more time, yes, but it also meant the souls were being yanked more violently.

Of course, that was all just supposing, hypothesizing. There was no one who truly knew, and no matter what studies people subjected themselves to, it seemed like none would ever find out. It wasn't like learning any of that was a comfort to Felix, either. All he cared about was that one moment he was sleeping soundly next to Woojin, the elder's wet breaths only a slight concern as he drifted off, and the next he was waking up to his alarm to check on his boyfriend at two a.m., to see if he needed anything since he wasn't feeling well. He would never forget the horror that bloomed in his chest when he sat up and rubbed his bleary eyes as he called for the older softly- When there was no response. The feeling when he laid a hand on Woojin's cheek and realized he no longer could feel those wet breaths pushing their way between chapped lips. The sound that tore from him when he shakily flipped on the lamp and saw the creamy orange stripe missing from his hand because that could only mean that Felix had _finally lost him_.

At first, he was inconsolable. Losing Woojin also meant he lost his dear friend Chaewon, and it was a blow. Were it not for his friends, Chris, and Changbin, Felix would never have been able to do it. As it was, Hyunjin and Jisung were the biggest support when he was too embarrassed to let his brother and boyfriend see him. Mourning was such a weird thing to Felix- His friends knew Woojin, yes, but not nearly as much as Changbin and Chris. Somehow, it was easier to admit his pain to those that couldn't relate nearly as much.

He felt like a fool for being sad in the first place. Felix had known, for months. Nearly a whole year, really. It was coming soon, but he had somehow gotten lost in the joy of living. It had been pushed to the back of his mind, almost as though soulmates didn't work like that. Almost like Leo didn't die with his baby sister. Almost like his mother didn't die before he could even graduate. Felix felt even guiltier for shoving those deaths to the side, and for days- Or maybe even weeks, his sense of time had failed him entirely- He felt like he was trapped in this terrible cycle of self-pity, self-hatred, and just... _Sadness_. There were few ways to describe it other than that. It was the sadness that made every cell in your body feel heavier than they were, that prickled at your shoulders and neck, made your stomach twist and turn so badly it hurt, and made your eyes swollen with tears for far too long. Felix could hardly breathe.

But then Changbin was there, putting together their shattered pieces. He wrapped his arms around him and didn't let go, murmured the words of comfort the both of them needed, wiped Felix's tears and snot, and let him stutter out every single grievance he had with the world they lived in, no matter how small, big, or ridiculous. He talked things out rationally, hell, he even paid to see a professional together because _that was just the way their world worked._ Felix could not change that, and it wasn't anything to be _sad_ over, he realized.

He took a sort of comfort in the inevitability, but more than that he took comfort in Changbin's embrace.

His gentle kisses against Felix's nose and eyelids, his soft hands that brushed back his bangs and his smile that made him feel safe.

They mourned Woojin together, but perhaps sad was no longer the right term.

" _We'll join him soon_ ," Felix whispered one night against Changbin's lips.

The elder did not disagree.

 

part five.

 _I don't think having soulmates is a happy or sad thing, actually. I think it just_ is _. I don't think that the soulmate system was created for any particular reason other than to bind humans together, so that everyone has that one person they are connected to. Well, that's if I have to give soulmates a philosophical purpose. If I didn't, I don't think I would. I wouldn't really say it's something that's meant to be due to some sort of divine intervention, because that's the way a "God" or "The heavens" wished it to be. Really, if I think there is any actual purpose, it would be the same as disease, natural disasters, natural selection- It's like a form of population control. The world can't overpopulate if people are dying left and right from meeting the person that is their other half, or third, of their soul._

_That sounds so cruel and callous, haha. Way too negative for me, but that's just the most logical standpoint, you know? I think souls are just like fingers, toes, hearts, stomachs, and the like- Just another part of our body. They just happen to be the one that defines us the most._

_Romanticizing soulmates like they do in movies is really bad to me, honestly, but that being said I don't think it's wrong for soulmates to become friends, or fall in love- Like Chaewon and I, or Felix and Changbin._

_Lix and Binnie. The most precious people in my life. Maybe it's selfish, but I'm glad I was able to see them together before my time came. Maybe...Soulmates aren't as negative as I make them out to be. I don't know, I just know that if it weren't for them, facing the end would be much scarier than it is right now._

_Entry: 4419_

_Number meaning: 44 appears at a time of importance. 19 is known as the Number of Surrender in ancient times. You are near to reaching your goal. Alternatively, the significant end._

_-Journal Entry 4419 by Kim Woojin_

Felix is twenty-one when he dies.

"So like, you're really gonna pick taking the bus over a cab? _Really_?" Hyunjin asked incredulously, his pretty face twisted in confusion. Jisung shook his head, leaning tiredly against the other's body with a yawn.

"Felix thinks bus rides are more romantic than cabs. Thinks it makes the scenery prettier and everything more intimate, or something," Halfway through, his words had slurred with another yawn, but all understood enough to make Felix flush under the weight of their looks. He stepped on Jisung's foot lightly, and his best friend yelped, stepping back, "What? You said it first!"

"You didn't have to _share with the class_ ," Felix fired back as he stuck out his tongue, "Besides, I hardly touched you!"

"Alright kiddos, that's enough, that's enough," Chris stepped between them, eyebrows raised, "Jinnie, Sungie, and I will take the cab back to my place. Feel free to take the bus, but no promises we won't eat all the snacks before you get back."

"We can buy our own," Changbin shrugged and Felix grinned, high-fiving him. His brother laughed, ruffling his hair before the group parted ways. Felix held tightly to Changbin's hand as they bid their friends farewell and began to walk to the bus stop. The night was peaceful, with the streetlamps shining down circles of just slightly orange-hued lights. Air, not quite cold but certainly not warm, fluttered by their moving bodies and cooled them. The sound of the occasional car driving by was familiar, soothing even, and Felix could not help but admire the way Changbin's eyes shone as he looked at the moon. It reflected beautifully in his eyes, and the sight pulled something so loving in his chest he could have been brought to tears.

He could only recall that feeling with Woojin and Changbin, and that was enough to convince him that he, truly, loved them both.

 _Please wait patiently,_ Felix thought as he conjured the image of the white lily bouquet he had once purchased. It was a fond memory, even if a little scary, and he squeezed Changbin's hand, catching his attention.

"What? Is there something wrong?" He asked as they arrived at the bus stop. Felix shook his head, grinning.

"No, I just love you," He replied, and brought their joined hands to his mouth. He pressed a careful kiss to the back of Changbin's hand, before untangling their fingers. He tenderly grasped his soulmate's hand, and this time his lips landed on the purple nonagon soul mark, with a kiss as loving as he could manage. Changbin giggled, taking his hand back before cupping Felix's cheek.

"I love you too," Changbin pecked the tip of his nose before pulling at him, "Come on, the bus is here."

They walked on together, biding the driver hello. It was nearly empty, but Changbin led them to the back anyway. Felix slid as close to the window as he could, watching his breath frost the glass. Changbin leaned against him, his head on Felix's shoulder. Their hands joined again and Felix's readjusted so that Changbin was all but laying in his lap. His free hand traced patterns against the older's arm, and he watched as his dark lashes fluttered, heavy.

"Sleep, love," Felix whispered.

"You'll fall asleep too and we'll miss the stop," Changbin denied.

"They said they wouldn't leave snacks for us, anyway. They can afford to worry when we're a little late," Felix laughed. Changbin quirked a grin but did not argue, settling closer. His breathing slowly began to even out, and Felix snuggled against his soft hair, sighing. It was not long before he, too, was lulled to sleep by the constant motions and rumblings of the bus.

Neither would wake up when the bus pulled into its final stop.


End file.
